Chips Forever

I've been laughing all day about this:

Callie's class at school is doing a "Secret Pal" gift exchange for each day this week. She learned her pal likes chips so she scrounged up three different chip-like foods to give him today. If you look closely, one type is a rice cracker, one is a regular potato chip (only it has pepper on it - definitely not kid-friendly), and the third is my favorite tortilla chip - Trader Joe's Blue Tortilla (but does a tortilla chip really count as "Chips"?). 

She is great isn't she? And, I wonder if you'd be surprised to learn I've never been accused of being the kind of Mom who does everything for her child -- hahahha, I offered to take her to the store to buy some good chips, I promise!

This is all reminiscent of an Easter egg hung a long time ago where the kids were each going to fill a dozen eggs to take to the party. Somehow Callie passed over the goodies I thought I provided, for she filled her Easter eggs with pebbles and paper clips. We didn't discover any of this until at the party when a little girl opened her egg in disappointment to find paper clips!!

It still fits Mom!!

I added another exclamation point to the post title because that is how I hear the phrase being "spoken" to me.

I have been getting pictures from my google feed reminding me of what was happening x years ago. One of the pictures was of my sweet Callie wearing her strawberry shortcake costume that was one or two years old.

She is just funny.

Now, fast forward to this year. I was in charge of the family reunion (I'm still going to post about it, I promise) and in doing so, wanted to do t-shirts. My talented sister-in-law Melissa did a whole bunch of shirts for me and conveniently lives near my sister Janie. So, when the t-shirts were done, they were very kindly delivered to Janie who then sent me pictures of how they looked. 

This is what she sent, with a message saying, "I think they might be too small."

Hahahahah, I simply laugh every time I see this picture. I love her little boy so much. He has kind of a contrary facial expression about 95% of the time so I'm glad to have that preserved in the picture, but this shirt and his cute little prego-belly, hahahha, oh, tears streaming down my face funny. Janie and I laughed and laughed and laughed at the time. I was kind of stressed about the reunion anyway, so it felt good to just let it all out. Then, I said, "What am I going to do?!!" since all the shirts were printed and done. 

Anyway, long story short, her little boy was wearing his little sister's shirt after all (when he got in the correct shirt, he said, "But, I liked the other one better.") and my sil Melissa made some more shirts for me to make it so we'd all have a shirt that fits. She's super awesome and I just think this whole story is a good one. 

He Hasn't Hurt Anyone Yet

4th of July Fun

Carson's Fortunate Day

Unfortunately, my boy woke up not feeling well on Monday.
Fortunately, he was able to power up and go to school.

Unfortunately, he forgot his Orca bus card.
But, fortunately, he knew the way to school, so he walked.

The route took much longer than he expected (4.6 miles).
Fortunately, the fresh air cleared his head.

Unfortunately, he missed all of 1st period.
Fortunately, he was able to learn for six other periods that day.

Bingham's Organic Valley (haystack)

Unfortunately, after school, Carson walked (remember - no Orca card) to Bike Lab at the Boys and Girls Club.
Fortunately, his instructor Lance, helped him fix Mom's bike, which Carson then rode home (3.8 miles).

Unfortunately, he was a little late for soccer practice Monday evening.
But fortunately, Carson loved every minute of the time he got.

Carson found out the shoes Mom purchased from Value Village for $7 were actually football shoes .

Rattlesnake Ridge

Fortunately, he hasn't been kicked out of a game yet.

Unfortunately, Carson could really hurt someone if keeps playing in those shoes.
Fortunately, he hasn't hurt anyone yet.

Unfortunately, Carson didn't get to play his
board game of choice, "Spy Alley" for Family Home Evening.
Fortunately, he showered and was in bed by 10:00.

Rattlesnake Lake

Glimpses

There have been a couple of times in the past week where I've appreciated "glimpses" of life as a mother.

I woke up one day and saw my youngest had gotten up earlier and taken care of her dolls. This is what I observed out the back deck.What had gone through her little mind? Did the dolls need some sun? Maybe they were out enjoying the fresh morning air. Such good friends they must be, to be willing to share a chair :-).

A week ago, my husband and I went to a fun show in Seattle, Jim Gaffigan. This was my first time in Key Arena, which is memorable. And, I just always love going into the city with Darren.

I was told, by my oldest son, about partway through the night that dinner (made by oldest daughter) was, "burnt rice-a-roni" and that they were all doing great.We came home to a pretty messy kitchen, but sleeping children, which is TOTALLY worth the cleanup. 

The evidence on the kitchen counter, of the rice-a-roni, made me smile, and the note sitting in the dish (notice the rice-a-roni shaped like an "O", another example of "glimpses" into the mind of a child) filled me with all kinds of love for these three kids I claim.

Just a small side note, the arrows are pointing to a small shard of glass, no problem really. I discovered the slightly chipped glass the next day.

Thus you see just a slight snapshot of a regular couple of days in my life :-).

Melissa Makes Everything Fun

Melissa (my older sister, closest in age to me) and I made sure to coordinate our trips to Idaho. We had always planned to be there at the same time for about two weeks.

These two girls played in Marci's camp trailer
for an entire afternoon. It was NOT a cool day,
they were as imaginative and cute as could be.
THANK YOU Marci for use of the trailer!

Basically, Melissa makes everything fun. There was one day I was really grouchy and Melissa kept saying, "What are we going to do to pull you out of the dumps." I think I was too distraught to care, but sure enough, she did it. I can't even remember just how, but she did.

Our kids get along great which is another bonus. In fact, I think all of the cousins get along well together which is so fun to see and maybe another reason we all just kept wanting to extend the family reunion another day :-).

I can't hardly stand this picture.
Cousin Love for sure - saying good bye to Savannah :-(

Some of the fun memories with Melissa's family in particular:

1. Running/Biking: we biked around the twin lakes just days after a huge fire burned a large section of fields on one side of the lake. We biked through Banida and then back home. Melissa fended the dogs (I think in three different places) for me. She's always been good that way, looking to protect little sis. I imagine there was some teasing about my attempts to "yell" at the dogs.

2. Just like in days of the past, we had a fun game night with the Mumfords. Carson beat Duke's Katie, which I can't believe (Perudo was the game, so fun) because she was really set up to win.

3. We teased Dad and got in as much special time with Mom as we could. I think this year my family kept better control of our ice-addiction, which didn't give Dad as much ammo to bug us :-).

4. We took our kids to the Twin Lakes, which is the first time I think I have EVER sat on a "beach" blanket (touching shoulders) with my sisters Marci and Melissa.

5. Going to church with family is always my favorite part of trips. Now that I'm so old, I think we must overwhelm the Clifton ward. There are so many of us. Yet, when other neighbor families visit home, there are also so. many. of. them. too. So, I guess it all evens out.

6. We took a trip down to Logan to relive some of our old haunts. Always an Aggie :-).

7. The top item on our list was to try and do a big hike up the canyon. And, that we did. For some reason, I wore my "city" clothes (which Melissa razzed me about) and that hike isn't the easiest, btw.

Wind Caves Hike, Logan Canyon

Melissa's kids are rock-stars just like their mother, they motored up and down the mountain like it was nothing.

8. Gaga Ball -- have you ever heard of it? You wouldn't believe what a fun and entertaining game this is. All I can say is, "google" it. The Fuller kids (and Uncle Erik, and Aunt Melissa) LOVED this game.

9. Callie and Sadie entertained themselves on more than one occasion. The day we went hiking, these

sweet little girls, babysat themselves in the basement. We told them they couldn't bother Grandma, and they didn't. I think Grandpa gave them some goldfish crackers (we were gone from 1 in the afternoon till after 8) and maybe a Popsicle. He invited them to come up to the park when he needed to go outside, so he could keep an eye on them. He is a great babysitter :-).

10. Martin Harris Pageant -- Tawna set this up a few months ago. It was a rather windy evening, but fun to sit next to family and enjoy a pageant honoring an early church member.

My favorite way to enjoy Lagoon -- up on the sky ride, preferably all day. 

11. Lagoon -- Would you believe Melissa talked Janie and I into going to Gagoon (Jay Moyle coined that phrase)?! Amusement parks are on the bottom of my bucket lists. But, again, Melissa's spunky

Just refueling. 

So Much Fun!

personality helped us endure. I even screamed on some rides. The kids are still talking about Lagoon.






12. Melissa's Family - I love them all.